Business Training Simulations: The Benefits of Learning By Doing

Posted on Tue, 04/24/2018 - 08:37

Business simulations are a powerful way to develop training for your employees. With training simulations, your employees can learn by doing. Workplace simulations help the learners to hone their strategic skills and broaden their business perspectives. The basic reason why custom training simulations are effective is that it offers experiential learning to your organization. The process involves hands-on activity and self-assessment, taking concepts and then makes them realistic to the learners. Research has proven that experiential learning is much more effective than any other kind of training. This is partly because training simulations allow the learner a safe place to fail, and see the repercussions of their decisions. It also permits them to repeat their actions based on different strategies to experience varied outcomes and succeed.

Why is experiential learning effective?

Learning by experience yields better results because of the following reasons:

It allows the learners to use their creativity. They are encouraged to seek their own solutions to a problem based on their experience. It engages the problem-solving and decision-making skills of the learner.

It allows the learners to reflect. Your employees are encouraged to analyze their actions in connection with the outcome. They evaluate how a different action may have resulted in a different outcome.

It allows them to learn by their mistakes. In experiential learning, learners get to the right solution on the basis of trial and error. This becomes a valuable process where learners value their mistakes instead of being afraid of them.

It enhances the learners’ knowledge, skills, and improves their attitudes towards learning. When they solve a problem and see the end results, they experience satisfaction, which brings them towards the path of continued learning.

Simulated business training places learners in a variety of realistic situations and encourages them to learn by doing. Here are top five reasons why you should leverage training simulations and coax your employees to learn by experiencing things firsthand.

#1: Mimics the job environment

The 70/20/10 model has been touted by researchers as a great method for learning. As per the model, 70% of what individuals learn come from their experiences, 20% come from their social interactions, and 10% from traditional learning. Training simulations cater to the 70% of the model as they are able to mimic the real job environment of the learners.

#2: Offers a risk-free environment

The custom training simulations operate in the virtual world, so whatever mistakes your employees make while learning and practicing new skills remain there. There is no real-world damage associated with it, and your employees can freely practice without any fear of being penalized. They are allowed to fail and not feel defeated about it because every failure is a learning opportunity for them. Once they are confident of their skills in the virtual environment, they find it easy to replicate them in their real workplace.

#3: Encourages teamwork

Business simulations encourage teamwork. They inspire learners to think together, make decisions, and resolve problems. Bonding with your peers is a great outcome of simulations. It encourages your employees to reach out to each other and share learning. At the end of the day, combined learning of your employees helps in boosting the overall productivity.

#4: Brings out the leadership traits

When you present a simulation problem to a group of learners, you are bound to come across some employees who will take the initiative to lead the group towards the solution. This is a good way to recognize the top layer of talent in your organization. Maybe in normal situations, their leadership talent is dormant, but with strategy simulations it can coax out the logical thinking and leadership traits of those individuals. Once you identify them, you can further hone their skills.

#5: Provides valuable analytics

Modern training simulations provide valuable quantitative and qualitative learner data. Technology can help record the actions the learner takes under certain circumstances and the feedback they give. The more simulations they take part in, the better the data will be. This is very helpful for organizations as they can analyze this data and make improvements in their training strategies.

Here at Designing Digitally, our realistic custom built Training Simulations are the perfect way to immerse your learners and teach skilled procedures that are too dangerous or costly to perform in person. Learners can practice in a safe environment and gain confidence without the fear of substantial consequences. We create each custom Training Simulation to emulate the exact scenario or situation the learners would experience in the real world. Offering 3D or 2D simulations will give you a substantial advantage in engaging and educating your learners.

Contact our team today to discuss how your organization can benefit from training simulations.